Wrench



Sept. 25, 1945. Q VF SEASHORE 2,385,654.

I WRENCH Filed May 5, 1943 L50 l A 550771/@55 Patented Sept. 25, 1945UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WRENCH! Gunnar F. Seashore, Minneapolis,Minn.

Application May 5, 1943, Serial No. 485,717

(Cl. ill-94) its fulcrum at longitudinally adjustably selected IClalm.

rtMy present invention belongs to the wrench a One phase of theinvention pertains to improvements in the gripping jaws' of handwrenches, and has as an important objective the provision of an improvedjaw construction whereby the gripping faces of Vthe cooperating jawswill adapt themselves to engage flat surfaces of gripped objectsregardless of whether the engaged at surfaces be parallel or flaring. Inac` cordance with the invention, this and other important objectives arearrived at by providing one of the relatively movable'jaws with amovable gripping plate that is anchored therethrough for limited pivotalmovements. In the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated, the

wrench jaws are pivotally connected i'or swinging movements toward andfrom one another and, of course, the invention is particularlyadvantageous when used in connection with this pivoted jaw constructionin that the pivoted gripping plate on one of the jaws will move undergripping action and adjust itself to compensate for variations inangularity between the gripping faces of the jaws caused by pivotalopening and portions along the linkage. This phase of the invention hasas its main object to provide improved handle and fulcrum portionadjusting means for wrenches of this general character.

The above and other important objects and advantages sf the inventionwill be made apparent from the following specification, claim, 'andappended drawing.

In the accompanying drawing, like characters indicate like partsthroughout the several views. Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 .is a view in side elevation of a wrench embodying the presentinvention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken through the longitudinal axis of thewrench illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional Aview taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional viewv taken on the lille 4-4 of F18. 2;

closing movement thereof one with respect to the other. In the case ofthe pivoted jaw construction, the movable gripping plate is preferablyanchored to the pivotally movable of the .laws

on an axis parallel to but spaced from the jaw pivot. Preferably, themovable jaw plate is pivotally anchored to its respective jaw by a pivotlocated considerably outwardly of the longitudinal center ,of thepivoted jaw plate, and, in many respects, it has been found that bestresults can be expected when the pivot is spaced from the inner end ofsaid jaw plate a distance approximately equalling 3/4 of the totallength of vthe pivoted jaw plate. Also, in the preferred embodiment ofthe invention illustrated, pivotal 4 movements of the jaw plate aredefinitely limited in two directions, and the said pivoted jaw plate isspring pressed toward an outwardly flaring relationship with thegripping face of the cooperating jaw. Other advantages of thisconstruction are eillcient gripping at the extreme ends of the jaw andthe ability to withstand greater stresses when so used; and eliicientgripping action on pipes and the like engaging the gripping faces of thejaws only inwardly of the pivot of the movable law plate.

-Another phase of the invention is confined to wrenches of the typewherein the movable jaw of the wrench is operated through the medium oftoggle linkage comprising a stub link having Fig. 5 is a detailsectional view taken on the line l-l of Fig. l.; y

Fig. 6 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 2, `but showing yamodification of the wrench handle and stub lever fulcrum adjustingmeans;

Fig. 'I is an enlarged detail sectional view taken on the line 1-1 ofFig. 6, some parts being re- 1 moved and some parts being broken away;and

Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional view showing a still further modicationof the invention as pertains to the fulcrum adjusting means for the stublink of the toggle.

With reference ilrstto Figs. 1-5 inclusive, the numeral 9 indicates, asan entirety, a lever involving a handle l0 and a jaw Ii, which mayhereinafter be referred to as a fixed Jaw. The lever 9 may be assumed tbe pressed fromsheet metal, but may, ofcourse, be otherwise formed, andat its intermediate portion and jaw end is shaped to provide adownwardly-opening channel having spaced parallel side flanges i2. Ex-ftending between the spaced parallel flanges l2 at the free end of thejaw i i is a hardened grippingy plate I! having suitable-teeth in itsgripping surface. 'I'he gripping plate i3 may be assumed to be welded orotherwise rigidly anchored to the jaw il. To form the handle portion illof the lever, the flanges i2 thereof are bent into circular formation toprovide a completely circular tubular part I4 at the extreme rear endpart of the handle and a somewhat incomplete slotted tubular partforwardly of the completely tubular part i4. As will be seenparticularly by reference to Fig. '7, the slot, indicated by i5, in

,2,385,654 Y v y stub toggle leverv orlink 24 works in the slotted theincompletas?. fumar handle lo is in the but;

tom thereof and opens into the wider channel portion between the flangesI2 at the intermediate portion of theglever 9.

The movable jaw I6 of the wrench of Figs. 1-5 inclusive is shown asbeing of solid form such asattained by casting or drop forging and ispivotally anchored toand between the anges I2 of the lever 9 by ariveted pivot pin I1. At

sides of the pivotally movable jaw `I8 and have close-fitting slidingengagement therewith to` thereby prevent lateral movements thereon inhandle III of the lever 9 and, in the construction shown in Figs. 1-'5inclusive, is retained ragainst accidental displacement from .the slotI5 by a pin 28. In Figs. 1-5 inclusive, the rear or free end of thisstub toggle lever 24 ilnds its base of reaction against the inner end ofa screwfthreaded'shank 30 that has screw-threaded engage- 1 ment withand works throughthe completely tubular portion I4 of the handle I0. Theshank 30 is welded or otherwise anchored at 3I to and forms an integralpart of a tubular hand grip 32.

The tubular hand grip 32 works telescopica'lly over the cylindrical'handle portion I8 of the lever 9. VWith .this construction, the fulcrumpoint or the rearor outer portion of the stub toggle lever 24 isadjustable longitudinally of the respect to the Ijaw I6; -'l''he pivotalanchoring of the movable gripping plate I8 to the movablejaw I8 isaccomplished by passing a pivot pin 20 through the'spaced ilanges I9 andjaw' I8. As previously indicated, this pivot 23 is located outwardly ofthe longitudinal center oi' the gripping plate 18, and preferably isspaced from the inner end oi' the plate about of its length. Also,-forbest results, the axis ofthe pivot 20 should be located as close aspractical to the gripping fafe of the plate .I8 and in this connectionit will ,be seen, by reference to Fig. 2, that the bore in the jaw I 8receiving the pivot pin 20 opens slightly through the face of the jawadjacent the plate I8, so that the under side of the plate I8 issubstantially in contact with an exposed portion of the pin 20.-Outwardly'of the pivot pin 2liV the jaw I8 is formed with a ilat surface2| 'for limiting pivotal movements of the gripping plate I8 "-1 in onedirection, and inwardly of the pivotf2II the jaw I 8 is formed with ayfiat stop surface 22 for limiting pivotal movements of the grippingplate I8 in the other direction; one extreme position of the grippingplate I 3 being shown in Fig. 2 and another `extreme position thereofbeing shown in Fig. 6, later to be described,'but wherein l the jawconstruction is retained.

The spring for yieldingly pressing the plvoted gripping plate I8 towardits extreme vportion shown in Fig. 2 is indicated by I8a and is of thecoil compression type; this spring'beingsea'ted' at one end in asuitable, bore inthe ja-w I8 and reacting at its other end against theunder surf face of the plate I8'betwee`n the flanges I9.

For operating .the movable jaw I8-, there is provided an operatingmechanism comprising a lever 23, a suitable lever or link 24, and a coiltension 'spring 25. The spring 25 is anchored at one end to the lever III and at the other end to the jaw 16,` and urges the parts toward theirjaw op'en positions. 'I'he lever 23 underlies the lever 9 and is formedat its rear end with a handie-acting portion for cooperation with thehandle I0. At its front end, the lever 23 is pivoted to the jaw I6 at apoint 26 well spaced from the pivot I8, and the stub lever or link 24 ispivotally l connected to the intermediate portion of the lever 23 at 21to form with said lever a toggle operated by the rear or handle portionof th lever 23. To stop inward jaw cooperating movement of the l lever23 just after the toggle has passed its dead l center portion, the stublink or lever 24 is provided at its intermediate portion with a stop lug28 for engagement with .the intermediate portion of the lever 23. Therear or other end Qi the operator when applying clamping pressure by thelevers 9 and 23.

It should be apparent that movement of the lever 28 from its dottedlineposition of Fig. 1 to its full line position of Fig. 1 will causethe pivotally movable jaw I8 to move from its open inoperative positionshown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 toits full line operative position ofFig. 1. Furthermore, it would appear to be evident that the position ofthe iulcrumpolnt of toggle lever or arm 24 by means of the tubular handgrip 32 and its shank portion 30 is valid to accommodate work pieces ofdifferent thickness, the position of the shank 30 in Figs. 1 and 2 beingas required to accommodate the work piece y shown in Fig. 1.Furthermore, it will be obvious by reference particularly to Figs. 1 and2 that the knee portion of the toggle linkage moves slightly past deadcenter in a closed position of the leversl 8 and 23 so as toautomatically lock the wrench jaws in clamped relation on the work. y

- 32 having a. shank 38', but in Fig. 8 the tubularlhand grip 32' isinternally threaded and is as-l sumedto have threaded engagement withthe exteriorof the handle portion I0 of the lever 9',

whilethe, shank 30' isfdevoid of threads and is assumed to merely slidethrough the tubular portion I4' of the handle I0'.

For the purpose of simplicity, all .parts in Figs. 6, 7, and 8,corresponding to parts in Figs. 1-5 inclusive or having the same generalfunction will be assigned like characters plus the prime mark.

Now, with reference to Fig. 6, it will be seen that the tubular handgrip 32 is screw-threaded onto the handle I0 of lever 9 just as in' Fig.8, but is devoid of any shank portion such as 30 of Fig. 2v or 30' ofFig". 8. In Fig. 6 it y.will be seen that the I stub toggle link orlever 24 is notched to provide a shoulder 33 and a rearwardly extendingtongue portion 34. In this form of the invention, the shoulder 33 of thelink 24' reacts against the inner end of the tubular hand grip 32' andthe tongue 34 of the link 24 overhangs the inner end portion of thetubular hand grip 32 toprovide accidental displacement of. the rear endof link 24' .from the handle I0 through the slot I5' thereof.

Of course, in the forms shown in Figs.6 and 7, the variable adjustmentof the fulcrum point of line 24' is accomplished by rotationandscrewthreaded action on hand grip 32 on the screwthreaded handle I.

By reference to the drawing, it will be apparent that the gripping platewill move on its pivot 20 to automatically provide parallel gripping ofthe gripping plates I3 and I8 with any flat surface object squeezedbetween the plates I3 and I8 and extending both forwardly and rearwardlyof the pivot 20 thereof. Now, by reference particularly to Fig. 2, itwill be seen that when a work piece y is gripped between the free endsof the gripping plates I3 and I8 outwardly of the pivot 20 the grippingplate I8 will remain at rest against the flat stop surface 2l, and theparts will function just as in the case of a wrench of similarconstruction but having conventional rigid gripping plates. Anotheradvantage of the invention resides in the fact that when a work piecesuch as shown at y" in Fig. 6 is clamped between those portions of thegripping plates inwardly of the pivot 20', the pivoted gripping plate I8is forced into position wherein the gripping plates I3 and I8 convergeoutwardly one with respect to the other and thereby lock the work piecey therebetween and the outer edges of the flanges I2', thereby providinga highly enective pipe wrench.

In all figures, the movable gripping plate I8 is anchored to itsrespective jaw by a pivot having its axis extending transversely of thedirection of movement of the pivoted Jaw and may be said to be mountedfor pivotal or locking movements in the plane of movement oi' thepivoted or movable v law.

What I claim is: f

In a wrenchfa relatively fixed j aw, a relatively movable jaw pivotallyconnected to the fixed jaw for swinging movements with respect thereto,one of said jaws having a relatively fixed gripping surface and theother thereof carrying a movable gripping plate having a grippingsurface for cooperation with the gripping surface of the other jaw, saidrelatively movable gripping plate being pivoted to its respective jawfor rocking movements thereon in the plane of movement of the movablejaw, the axis of the pivot of the gripping plate being located outwardlyof the rear end of the gripping plate by a distance approximately equalto 3A of the length of the gripping plate, the under surface of thegripping plate being relatively flat and the cooperating jaw beingformed with substantially flat stop surfaces extending oppositely fromsaid pivot and at an angle to each other for engagement with the saidflat surface of the gripping plate, the said flat surfaces of the jawbeing substantially tangent with the periphery of the gripping platepivot, and the said flat surface of the gripping plate also beingsubstantially tangent with the periphery of the said pivot.

GUNNAR F, SEASHORE.

